Tristessa

According to What to Expect When You're Expecting the reasoning behind waiting 12-18 months post-op is that those months are when you lose the most weight the quickest; you see the most drastic weight loss during that time and then have a stabilizing period and it being best to weight until your weight is stable until you conceive. I can't imagine with the band it being dangerous or even all that worrisome if you conceive prior to that though, with the ability to fill/defill as needed, so long as you seek care from your family physician, OB and lapband surgeon. I'll be working with all three throughout my pregnancy. It's still quite early for me (5 weeks) but I'm already feeling the morning sickness.

Yes, you should get anywhere from $1200-$1800 back from Alberta Health Care if you have surgery out of country. The out of country form is here:http://www.health.alberta.ca/documents/AHCIP-form-AHC0934.pdf Out of province form for Physician services: http://www.health.alberta.ca/documents/AHCIP-form-AHC0693.pdf Take the physician services form with you and have the clinic fill in the physician information. Then get a detailed, itemized receipt for all services, tests, etc. that were completed during your stay. You can submit that with the above forms to AHS.

I am at 2.2cc in a 4cc band. I could probably stand to be a little tighter but this is the tightest I've ever had my band. I haven't had to have really aggressive fills to get tight restriction. I have however had significantly more fills than most do. I think I'm at 13 or 14 now? I've had to be filled and defilled quite a few times because of how sensitive my band/stomach seems to be. I can't say I have one set sweet spot, I've hit multiple sweet spots and as the weight came off, the band needed to be adjusted again. I am only ever filled .2cc at a time though so it has been a long process. My longest run at what was my sweet spot lasted about five months when I was at 2.2cc the first time. I then had to be defilled due to what was thought to be a slip (fortunately it was not) and was gradually increased back up to 2.2cc over the course of nine months. I honestly didn't really see the scale drop significantly until I started weight lifting and interval training. That coupled with the lapband diet was what really made the weight start falling off. Unfortunately due to multiple injuries I have had to stop and have been on an eight month plateau.

How are you doing for pain now? I hope you're recovering ok and getting some relief from the pain. Is bypass still an option you're considering?

You can tone up your lower body with just squats, lunges etc. but if you do them with weights you'll get killer definition a lot quicker. ChaLEAN Extreme might be something worth checking out. The weight lifting is three days a week, heavy weights, fewer reps and you really do get results and (from my experience) you feel fantastic when you start getting lots of definition. I LOVE the feeling of my shoulders, legs, etc. etc. getting hard and defined, and just love feeling strong in general. When I first started CE I was lifting a max. of 15lbs (per arm, 30lbs total) working my lower body and by the end I was lifting up to 35lbs (70lbs total) when doing lower body work (weighted lunges, squats etc.) and I didn't bulk up. I actually lost 40lbs and 41 inches overall doing my first round of CE. The CE program also comes with cardio and a schedule of when to do what. I sing its praises because it really does work but if weight lifting really isn't for you Turbo Fire is a good program if your fitness level (and coordination) are there. There are the work outs and then a breakdown of the routines so you aren't thrown right into it. It's a lot of fun and a hell of a work out too!

I haven't done the Slim in 6 series but hear it's good. When I'm well enough (been too sick to work out beyond just walking lately) I do Turbo Fire, ChaLEAN Extreme and P90X and love them all. Do you do weights at all? I've found that Turbo Fire on its own does more for my upper body than my lower whereas ChaLEAN Extreme is really good for overall body toning (and it's not really just toning - you will put on some serious lean muscle doing CE. And P90X for that matter, but if you don't weight train I'd recommend a round of CE first and then hit the P90X.) I like the hybrid of TF and CE myself.

Now that I don't have really heavy periods like I did when I was heavier I actually gain more during TOM. I used to not really gain anything at all and if I did it was 1-2lbs but now I've put on as much as 8lbs at TOM. And never without fail, I always seem to book my fills (and the documented weigh-ins) during TOM. Even if I plan it all out in advance and estimate when my period should be starting! The 6lbs might seem discouraging but it'll come off once TOM is over. I'm with liese too, my weight fluctuates so much throughout the day. I'm about ready to throw my damn scale out so I don't obsess over it. But then I'm sure I'll start obsessing about not knowing. Hehehe.

As you lose weight the fat pad between the band and your stomach gets smaller so you do lose restriction as a result. It's possible that you've been losing weight from other areas and had a smaller fat pad to begin with and are now losing more weight from that area specifically, so that's why you're feeling less restriction now. Have you had a barium swallow or scope done in the last 2 years at all the check band position and health? Good luck!

When I was in for a fill in September Dr. Mitchell had said he'll be starting to do bands in Vancouver starting today, Nov. 8. I wasn't banded in Calgary, I was banded by Dr. Ortiz in Tijuana in 2008, but I've had all of my follow up care with Dr. Mitchell. There is a Yahoo group for Calgary bandsters however it hasn't been all that active this year.

Dr. Mitchell charges $150 per fill/visit. I agree with the above poster and highly recommend him as well. He's fantastic. I have a very tipped port which we're holding off on correcting til I'm a little closer to my goal but he never misses it.

An average 2 month old horse + an average 2 year old.

I don't know about Edmonton or even Dr. Farries in Red Deer, but there are two options in Calgary if it comes to it. Both Dr. Philip Mitchell and Dr. Peggy Burke will do fills for patients banded in Mexico. Dr. Mitchell is awesome, he's who I see, and he charges $150 for a fill. I've heard Dr. Burke has excellent 'bedside manner' as well, and from what I understand she charges $100 per fill. Just a couple of options for you if you can't find anyone closer to home.

I must have mutant boobs. While I've gone down two sizes around, I've gone up a cup size from a B to a C. Makes for good cleavage though. Woohoo! :wink:

I finally get my first fill later today. I'm hoping that'll help some. I lost the 8lbs that I gained, but I still feel kind of off. I'm in physio for my leg now, so I still can't do much in the way of excersising. Ugh. Can't complain though, I was actually kind of excited when I got stuck on something. I know that my band is in there, which while painful, is very comforting to know.. heh